Part I

[domii]

It all started after one of those typical web surfing sessions, you know, slashdot, some tech sites, google search.. and wait..whats this.. wiki.osx86project.org??

 

Uh oh, I am hooked now!

 

..well technically it all started with my first Apple II.. an Apple II+ clone to be exact, back in the mid 1980's (I can just hear the OMG, WTF, comments now. But yes it is true, I am an old geek. Booyah!).

 

That experience with floppies and Dos 3.3 (yes there was an Apple Dos, not to be confused with MS-Dos or IBM-Dos of the time) and after some fun with games like Artic Fox, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, Zork, etc, I swapped that beast at a computer fair (people used to go to those things) for a used Apple IIc. Just the plain one, not the cool IIc+, oohh anyone remember that? Hehe.

In turn that was sold off so I could purchase a brand new Apple IIgs with a 1.5MB Ram expansion card from Applied Engineering (woah!). Funny how that computer was remarkably similiar to the early Macintosh systems.. it had a mouse, graphical desktop with finder, trash can in the corner, etc, 3'5" disk drive.. running GS/OS etc. On which I ran my first BBS system (written in ModemWorks http://www.morgandavis.net/portfolio/mdg/ ), complete with a 2400 baud modem. (I bet only hardcore nerds are still reading past this point). I don't have my source code on diskette anymore, but I do have 50+ pages printed out on dotmatrix paper someplace. I have some memories of sysop meetups in dungy basements with green and amber screens flickering, drinking cheep Beer and trading modem configurations. (and ascii porn.. lol). At one of them which was a Apple only event, the culmination of the party was the smashing of a IBM XT clone with a sledge hammer.

 

Anyhow, after leaving the Apple II world, I ended up with a Mac SE, on which I ran at first a Mac version of WWIV BBS, and then migrated to the more "sophisticated" Hermes BBS (*coughs*) along with a US Robotics Courier HST. Eventually after giving up on BBSing, party due to my BBS being mentioned in a major newpaper article about this "new software piracy phenomenon", and that BBS's were just full of "juvenile delinkwents" who couldn't spell properly and typed everything in ALL CAPS. I ended up focusing on my studies at college with a Mac IIx (even got one of those 68030 cpu upgrades along with a 68882 math co-processor for it), then a Quadra 800, mostly just because it had a really cool looking tower case at the time. I sold that too, and was PC only for a bit.

 

But then after college, I got my hands on my very first Mac Clone, a Power Computing PowerCentre Pro 240.. that was my darling. It was faster than a turkey run the night before thanksgiving. 60MHZ Bus for "teh win". I bought a 3DFX Voodoo card for it, (to play GL Macquake) upgraded the ram, hard drive.. even got Mac OS 9.22 running on the beast after messing with some patches. Fun stuff. They had a great advertising campaign too, before Apple pulled the plug on them when Steve Jobs came back. (Which, in retrospect was a very good thing, as were would we be now if that didn't happen?).

http://www.streamstudio.com/powercomputing/campaigns.shtml

 

Eventually when OSX appeared, it was replaced with a PowerMac G4 (Quicksilver) followed by a Mac Mini G4. Somewhere inbetween all that, I also had a Silicon Graphics Indigo2 (Impact model). And the fun times of running IRIX 6.5. (Maybe not that fun).

 

Of course I must also confess, I had a whole slew of PC's along the way. And went through the whole overclocking, and case modding phase. Including burning out my dremel while trying to cut the sheet metal on my case (yes, many people may not realize, but there was a time when fancy custom cases just didn't exist). But that leads me to where I am now. As I have been Mac' less for a year now at home (although my main machine at work is a Mac Pro).

 

I do really need a decent enough Mac for doing the odd project at home, and also to run Apple Remote Access so I can check up on the servers at work when need be. That, and nothing is more "fun" than being able to modify your machine as you go. (ok, going outside in the sun, drinking beer, sex, catching a live game.. not necessarily in that order, would be more fun.. but you catch the drift).

 

But I have a limited budget to play with, so I rummaged around in parts bin and found a Case w/ Power Supply, some DDR 400 512MB memory sticks, a DVD burner, 40GB HD, and a Radeon 9600. I even have a spare USB keyboard and mouse. Hmmm!

 

After plundering these forums for information, I decided to spend $150 (canadian) and order:

 

ASRock 775165G motherboard with Intel 865G chipset

http://www.asrock.com/product/775i65G.htm

 

Intel Celeron D 351 3.2GHZ processor

(it was cheap, leave me alone)

 

Of course I already have my grubby hands on a copy of the 10.4.8 Jas DVD. (Does using BitTyrant make me a bad person?). I think this might just work! I'm totally curious to see how it performs, speedwise and useabilitywise to my desktop Mac at work, or my old Mac Mini. Especially once I try and load it up with apps like: CS2, Office, Transmit, Toast, Dreamweaver, ArchiCAD, Quark, iWork, iLife, etc.

 

Now I have to wait for the parts to arrive..